Mr. Slade Sapora

I was raised in Brookings, Oregon on the southwest coast, where I grew up playing in tide pools, climbing trees, and swimming in the Chetco River. At the age of seventeen, I worked my first season as a forest fire lookout (Quail Prairie Lookout) for the U.S. Forest Service, where I discovered the amazing complexity of and developed an endless fascination with the natural world. I never looked back.

Since then, I have had a myriad of field-based jobs, working my up from a grunt digging fire trails, to a scientific field-technician, to a project coordinator. I received my bachelors of science degree from Portland State University in biology (emphasis in botany) and a minor in geology in 2003. While attending PSU, I worked as a Peer Mentor as part of the Columbia River Basin - Freshman Inquiry program. For three consecutive years, I worked one-on-one with a group of thirty students for the entire length of the school year.

During my summers off from school, I worked as an interpretive park ranger for Redwood National Park -- leading guided walks and Junior Ranger programs, conducting evening “campfire talks”, and guiding kayak trips down the Smith River. I also volunteered for a number of various local events as a guide and guest-speaker, along with teaching a non-credit Natural History summer series for Southwestern Oregon Community College.

In between field jobs, I have traveled abroad extensively. From 2007 to 2009, I lived on the island of Koh Tao in the Gulf of Thailand, where I helped a group of friends start an adventure company specializing in rock-climbing and SCUBA diving -- Goodtime Adventures. It was hard leaving, but the pristine wilderness of the Aleutian Islands were calling me back.

From September 2010 to April 2011, I was one of two coordinators for the shorebird research (Bird5) projects being conducted along the Louisiana coast in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. It was a challenging, moving and amazing experience, and I was fortunate enough to work with the best people I have ever had the pleasure of working with -- I had the most dependable and solid crews I could ever hope to work with, and the best local boat captains the world has ever known.

I graduated from Southern Oregon University with my Master's in Teaching degree in 2013 - conducting my student teaching at North Medford High School and Hedrick Middle School. I am forever indebted to the amazing mentorships I received from Jeff Almanza and Becky Plankenhorn - these two people are everything a teacher should be and more...Jedi, Ninja, Zen Masters! Also - give a shout out to every single one of my former students - thank you all so much for the best student teaching experience!

I now teach at Tillamook High School on the northern Oregon coast. Bringing it all back to the coast in a region overflowing with natural resources - and in a welcoming community that has retained its true Oregon spirit and integrity. Solid.GO MOOOOKS!